NASCAR Racing At Kentucky Speedway

Welcome NASCAR race fans to my NASCAR blog. NASCAR is racing at the Kentucky Speedway this weekend. Normally, this track is host to only Nationwide and Camping World Trucks. Bruton Smith and his SMI company bought the track and gave up a Sprint Cup date at Atlanta Motor Speedway to make room for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event here. So now Kentucky Speedway plays host to all three NASCAR top Series. Thursday was a time for testing for the Sprint Cup drivers, as this is the inaugural event for them.

Thursday also saw the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualify and race the UNOH 225 race. Johnny Sauter started on the pole, but it was Cup driver Kyle Busch who held off the Truck drivers for the win.

On Friday there was a lot of practice for Nationwide and Sprint Cup drivers. The NASCAR Nationwide Series managed to get in qualifying, with Elliott Sadler sitting on the pole with a speed of 173.734 mph and 31.082 seconds and Carl Edwards starting second. Joey Logano has won from the pole in Nationwide the past three years, but not this year. Joey ran out of fuel in the Feed the Children 300 and Brad Keselowski won the race, his first this year in Nationwide. He had a long lead and managed to save enough fuel to get the win. The top ten were Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, (no trifecta for Kyle this weekend) Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Kenny Wallace, Michael Annett, Carl Edwrds, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Joey Logano.

Reed Sorenson was in a different car this race so that Mark Martin could drive his #32 car. He doesn’t do as well in the #30 car and he didn’t do as well again on Friday night, causing him to loose the points lead to Elliott Sadler. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler, Aric Allmirola, Kenny Wallace and Steve Wallace remained the same in points, while Michael Annett moved up to ninth and Brian Scott moved down to tenth.

After the Nationwide drivers qualified for their race, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took to the track to qualify. As you know, they come out to qualify according to practice speeds in the first practice. Scott Wimmer was slowest and kyle Busch was fastest. They got as far as twenty-two drivers before the rain washed the rest out. The lineup for the Quaker State 400 will be the fastest in practice, with Kyle Busch on the pole and Juan Pablo Montoya starting second. David Stremme, Michael Waltrip (in a car commemorating his brother Daryl for getting into the Hall of Fame), T. J. Bell, David Starr and Robby Gordon (in his other car, #77) failed to make the race, as they were the slowest in practice of those not locked in.

Next up: the Quaker State 400 race Saturday night. See you after the race.